Romans 8: 1-17 (NIV)

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba,Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs —heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Reflection:

How great it is to know that in Christ we are not condemned! But even greater than not being condemned is that we are truly forgiven by God. This forgiveness is the way of love that God has given to us in His Spirit. We are now governed by His Spirit and therefore our lives are now set on what the Spirit desires – life and peace. A misdeed would be not to forgive, but we are to put that misdeed to death and truly live! Our way of life now is one marked and motivated by the forgiveness of God. We no longer need to live in fear, rather love casts out that fear, so we now live in the forgiveness of God that came to us through the glory of Christ.

Response:

Let’s testify with the Spirit by forgiving each other as God in Christ has forgiven us. Let’s ask the Lord to give us discernment and to reveal any unforgiveness we may be harboring in our hearts. As we extend forgiveness, may we experience true freedom from the law of sin and death.

UMBC’s Secondary Teacher Education and Professional Training for English Language Learners (or STEP T for ELLs) program has been awarded an additional year of funding by the U.S. Department of Education. The program is funded through the Office of English Language Acquisition.

The STEP T for ELLs Program helps secondary teachers of math, science, and social studies to provide effective instruction to ESOL students. This program provides professional development in areas such as teaching strategies and cross-cultural communications.

The program has surpassed its original goal of training 880 in-service teachers and 60 teacher leaders in the state of Maryland. The program has already trained 1,040 in-service teachers (math, science, social studies, and ESOL) and 273 teacher leaders.  These teacher leaders in Montgomery County Public Schools, Howard County Public School System, and Frederick County Public Schools will be training teachers in their school systems using STEP T for ELLs Program modules.  In addition, the program leaders are developing online professional development modules to be offered in the Maryland State Department of Education.

This program builds an understanding of who ELLs are and how to communicate across cultures effectively. More information about the program can be found here.

On June 24, The Washington Post published an Associated press article entitled “Md. governor struggles at home while critics say he’s too focused elsewhere.” O’Malley’s critics have claimed he has been delinquent in his obligations at home and that he is treating Maryland as a weigh station to a national office.

Donald Norris, chair of public policy, said that O’Malley’s recent difficulties regarding the expansion of gambling in the state reflected more on the dynamics between Maryland’s Senate and House leaders.

“This is the strongest gubernatorial office in the country and this particular governor is a strong governor, so my guess is if he wanted this badly enough and he thought the timing was right, he’d pull out all the stops, but I don’t think that’s the case,” Norris said.

News that Dresher Center for the Humanities director Rebecca Boehling’s was recently named Director of the International Tracing Service, has recently been covered in several news outlets.

On June 22,  The Baltimore Jewish Times published a story entitled “Professor To Head International Tracing Service,” which explored Boehling’s background and that of the ITS. Boehling spoke on a number of topics which ranged from anecdotal experiences related to the ITS’s profile and the shifting discourse within Germany on the war to the possible advantage of being an American “outsider” holding such a sensitive post as hers. As to her plans for the ITS during her expected 2 1/2 year tenure in Germany, Boehling said that “[t]he ITS is burgeoning… but I’m going to make sure it burgeons more.”

Boehling was also a guest on WYPR’s Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast on June 26th, where she spoke on her appointment to the ITS, its evolution from its original purpose of tracing and reuniting family members and other survivors of the Holocaust to incorporate more scholarly research, and being the first American appointed to its directorship.

On June 26, Kate Drabinski, lecturer in gender and women’s studies and director of UMBC’s Women Involved in Learning and Leadership (WILL) program, was a guest on the Marc Steiner show for a discussion on the dynamics of gender in contemporary society and whether the differences between the genders are innate or socially constucted. Drabinski was joined by former American Psychological Association (APA) head Diane Halpern and Goucher College women’s studies visiting associate professor Jennifer Williams.

“In feminist theory the debate about the difference between sex and gender is an old one, sex being biological and gender being social,” Drabinski said. “But there’s no way to isolate the biological from the social because the second we ask the question we’re bringing our social world into it.”

The full conversation can be heard here.